Elsa turns 3!

Today is Elsa's 3rd Birthday, but we started the celebrations a few days early by inviting all of her dog friends to a doughnut-themed party!

Three years ago today my husband and I got our first glimpse of Elsa in this photograph...she was only minutes old.

I confess that, although we had done a lot of research and we were certain that a Lhasa Apso was the right breed for us, we weren't sure that we'd definitely have a pup from this particular litter. In fact, on the day that she was born, we'd already been looking at other puppies! But something told me that we should be patient and a few hours later we received this photograph...

I found Elsa's breeder through the kennel club and we'd been talking for months; we'd built up a good rapport so I didn't want to make a final decision until we had been to meet her and these puppies in the photo.

Elsa was the first of the litter to be born, and she had the darkest coloured coat.

When we finally met the puppies I was completely besotted with them - I would have had all of them if given the chance and circumstances, but Elsa was the one that nudged her way over to me so I picked her up and held her for what seemed like forever. She was comfortable in my arms and I knew right there and then that she was definitely the one.

Over the past three years Elsa has quite literally taught us everything that we know about owning a dog, changed the way that we live our lives, taken us to places that we would never have been and introduced us to so many wonderful new friends, along with a few celebrities!

We decided that the best way to celebrate Elsa's 3rd birthday would be to throw a party for all of the dogs that she loves to spend time with. (And we let them bring their humans along for some fun too!)

Party Pups

We realise that there are many people who would struggle to understand why we would want to throw a birthday party for a dog, but fortunately most of our friends are as crazy about their dogs as we are about Elsa!

There were others that laughed at the idea at first - yet they still came, and we are so glad that they did! We are passionate about encouraging others to enrich the lives of their dogs through socialisation so, aside from a bit of fun, we were hopeful that the party would give everyone the opportunity to see how beneficial this sort of interaction could be for both dogs and humans alike.

They host many events here throughout the year including 'Middleport Mutts', which we have attended twice, so we knew that the site was incredibly dog friendly, and that they have a HUGE event room available for hire!

They already have their own bespoke agility course so we were able to rent that too, and everything was all set up for us when we arrived with the rest of the decorations.

It's incredibly difficult to find an indoor event venue that is dog friendly, so we are very thankful to Middleport for letting us host Elsa's party here!

Happy Birthday dear Elsa, Happy Birthday to you!

Considering it was made for dogs, the cake actually smelled as incredible as it looked! It went down a treat too, with many pooches trying to sneak an extra slice and hoovering up any crumbs.

We'd highly recommend Rudi's for their amazing service; they really exceeded our expectations and did everything possible to make sure that the order was perfect.

Spoilt Rotten!

We are so grateful for all the gifts that Elsa received at the party! She had lots of fun opening them and loves playing with her new toys. The treat cupboard is filled to capacity and she'll be enjoying them for weeks to come! We are really overwhelmed by how kind and thoughtful everyone has been - Thank you all so much!

18th October 2017 | Today is Elsa's Birthday!

Of course we gave her a few gifts of our own including a cute red squirrel toy from Hounds, some brand new Lily's Kitchen treats, a collar and lead from Made for Mutts (thank you for getting this to us on time!), a Hurtta everyday harness and a full-body Equafleece. The cute birthday badge was a bespoke order from from 'Madebymelittleg' on Etsy, she is so creative and came up with this design based on a photograph that I sent her!

Birthday Surprise!

Yummy!

Elsa has enjoyed Lily's Kitchen 'Birthday Surprise' for breakfast (thank you Piglet!) and now we are heading out for a fun-filled day with her, which we'll tell you about very soon!

About the Author

Kelly graduated from university with a Ba (Hons) in Journalism, but fate took her down a different career path… until a little furry muse came into her life and she discovered blogging as a creative outlet to share her love of writing, photography, travel and dogs!